Improvement in cultivators



UNITED STATES PATENT Grrror..

AUGUSTUS O. TOI/VER, OF MENDOTA, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CULTIVATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 152,778, dated July7,1874; application filed February 20, 1874.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUSTUS C. Towne, of Mendota, in the county of LaSalle and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Oultivators; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full andexact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention is an improvement upon my patent of January 14, 1873, No.134,824; and consists mainly in the peculiar means employed foradjusting the beams to any desired angle, consisting ofcertainclamping-irons and chains, as will be fully described hereinafter.

In the drawings, Figure l represents a plan view of the entire machine;Fig. 2, a rear elevation of the draft device; and Fig. 3, a sectionalelevation of the clamp uniting the knifebeam to the draft-rod.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willnow proceed to describe fully its construction and manner of operation.

The machine in its general construction resembles that described in mypatent referred to above-that is, it is constructed in two parts, andhas two front beams carrying knives and two following smoothing-beams,the parts being properly united, so as to form a single machine.

A A represent the front beams of the machine. They are identical intheir construction, and are made of any proper material, and suitablesize. They are each provided with a series of curved knives, a a,similar to those described in my former patent, and secured to the beamin the same way, excepting that they are held at right angles theretoinstead of at the angle there described. B B represent the followingsmoothing-beams, united to the beams A A by the connecting-beams C C, asshown. The beams B B may consist of a simple metal plate, and beconnected to the beams C C by triangular blocks, as described in myformer patent.

It will be observed that the beams A A are united to the beams C C at anangle, so that the rear ends of the knives are brought nearer to thecenter line of the machine than their front ends, this result being thesame as that F represents an adjustable connecting-bar, by

means of which the rear ends of the two parts are properly united. Thefront ends of the machine are properly united by means of the draftdevice, which will now be described. G represents a tongue attached inrear to the cross-bar g, having the pendent bars g suitably braced, asshown. h h represent draftrods properly secured to the tongue in front,and to the lower ends of the pendent bars g, near their rear ends, andterminating in a hook adapted to catch into the eye w attached to theknifebeams, as shown. As the eyes are centrally attached to the beams,the tendency of the draft-strain would be to draw them at right anglesto the center line of the machine, instead of at the desired angle.

To secure the proper angle, and to provide for its adjustment, thefollowing means are employed: I represents a clamp or clasp consistingof two metallic plates, grooved upon their inner faces, near one edge,and provided with a securingbolt, the same being adapted to gripe thedraft-rod, and be secured in any desired position by tightening thesecuringbolt. 'c' represents a chain, by means of which the clamp I isconnected to the inner end of the beam A, as shown.

By means of the described construction the knives may be united at rightangles to the beam instead of being bent, as was necessary in my formerpatent, the result simplifying very much the construction, and Iavoidingall difficulty in turning the nuts to adjust the vertical angle of theknives. The beams themselves may be adjusted to the desired angle bymoving the clamping-iron properly upon the draft-rod. i

rEhe parts are suitably connected in part by the draft device, insteadof the bar described in my former patent.

To adj ust the `parts of the machine to or from each other, the pendentbars are adjusted upon the cross-beam in front, as indicated in Fig. 2,and the bar F is. properly adjusted inl rear..

The machine, as represented, is adapted for low corn. When employed forhigh corn, the pendent bars are removed, and longer ones substituted forthem, and the rear cross-bar is entirely removed from the machine.

The handles, it will be observed, are inclined to one side, so that theperson holding them may Walk upon one side of the roW.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination ofthe ad jui-.able o1a1nping-irons, the draft-rods,and the beams A.

2. The knife-beam A, knives a, chains fi, clamping-irons, draft-rods,and tongue, oombined and arranged substantially as described.

This speeieation signed and witnessed this 16th day of February, A. D.1874.

AUGUSTUS G. TOWER.

Witnesses THOMASA FoRNsTALL, J osEPH HUNTER.

